Charlotte Stewart, Miss Beadle From ‘Little House On The Prairie’ Focuses On Writing In Her 80s

One character Little House on the Prairie fans love is Miss Beadle, who Charlotte Stewart played in the series’ first four seasons. In fact, some claim she inspired them to take on the teaching profession. “I get lots of comments from teachers who say, “I became a teacher because of Miss Beadle,” Stewart revealed. “There is no greater compliment.”

The actress is now 81 years old and has dabbled in other ventures apart from the series that made her well known; let’s see what Charlotte Stewart has been up to.

Stewart has acted through several decades in Hollywood

Although her last appearance on the acting scene was in the 2018 TV movie Livin’ on a Prairie, Stewart started her Hollywood journey in 1960 with “The Glass Cage” episode in The Loretta Young Show. Since then, she has featured in Eraserhead (1977),  Tremors (1990), two seasons of Twin Peaks (1990 – 1991), Mayfly (2010), and others.

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Sixty-two years after, she’s retired to enjoy her life and attend fan conventions. Miss Beadle talked about how iconic it was for her the first time she attended the Little House fan convention. “I was never invited. Then, all of a sudden, Alison Arngrim said, ‘You’ve got to go! You have to see this phenomenon,'” Stewart claimed. “The first time I went, it knocked my socks off! I started crying as I walked down the aisle in a big outdoor park where there was probably 1,000 people clapping. It just overwhelmed me. I so appreciate our fanbase.”

She’s an author

In 2016 she published her memoir, Little House in the Hollywood Hills, which details her sexual escapades with different men and her journey to sobriety. In an interview with Smashing Magazine, she shed further light on that period of her life. “The 70s were an exploratory time with the women’s movement, the free love, and there was lots of marijuana and drugs,” Stewart said. “I was in my early 20s and an actress in a town where there were many nice-looking men available. They were interested. I had a wonderful time, and I have no regrets.”

On sobriety, she claimed it was her niece who called her to order. “She told me what a mess I was in a letter,” Stewart explained. “It broke my heart and woke me up at the same time… I entered a recovery program that really turned my head around. I’m still going to meetings and I’m very grateful.”

She has been married three times

In her personal life, she has been married three times, first to My Three Sons star Tim Considine (1965-1969) and second to David Banks from 1992 until his death in 2012. Her current marriage to Michael Santos (they wed in 2015) is more of a spontaneous one, and she revealed how it came to be.

“I ran into an old friend [on] Christmas Eve,” Stewart said. “We hadn’t seen each other in 30 years. We clicked, and that was that. I’m starting a brand new phase of my life, and I’ve never been busier. Things are better, better than ever!”